The Buffalo Sabres did not play in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year but that doesn’t mean lessons weren’t learned, particularly from the final four teams. Certainly they aren’t the only team that noticed a trend toward minute-munching skilled defenseman. Fans of the Buffalo Sabres noticed too and, if they share the same opinion I do, were elated with the trend.
The Stanley Cup Final showed off two of the leagues best defencemen in the Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks cyborg Duncan Keith, whom would have won the Conn Smythe even if the Lightning hoisted the Cup.